November 24, 2012

Every year my Granddad would start talking about Christmas around August. Like me, he was obsessed with all things glittery and festive. He loved everything that Christmas involves: excessive food, presents, drink and merriment. So each year as summer came to a close I would get a phone call from him requesting a serious meeting to discuss 'this years card'. We would have several meetings where I would present initial rough sketches, he would make me change them loads (angels could be plumper/happier etc.) and then we would finally decide on a drawing. He had a little book stuffed full of names and addresses of his various friends that he would send them to. Most were in their eighties or nineties and kicked up a huge fuss if their names weren't on his card list. He would stagger the postage because as his buddies received the cards they would then ring him to discuss the card etc. and stay on the phone for hours. Being in his nineties his phone was on the loudest volume setting possible so if you were in the room to witness one of these calls it was quite deafening as he tended to yell back too!

Granddad is no longer here but I recently found one of these cards and decided to scan it in and share it with you. I can't remember what year it was from but I do remember him insisting that I write have 'a holy Christmas' as he had a few nuns on his books so wanted to keep on their good side. Of course it worked a charm and his phone was hopping for days.

Originally I printed these on cream paper and placed gold star stickers on top of the stable. We spent a good few enjoyable hours folding and sticking. Well I was folding and sticking he was sipping a hot whiskey. Here are a few ideas of ways that you can personalise the cards for your own use:

Print out loads and get your or someone else's kids to color them in.

Print them on colored or gold paper and you won't even have to color them in!

Glue glitter or place a gold star sticker over the stable.

Print out scaled at 40% and thread with a ribbon, use as gift tags.

Enlarge and print on to A3 paper, use as a disposable Place mat on Christmas Day. Your fellow diners could even color them in whilst they wait for the turkey to be carved!

So I've created a google group page thing where you can download it. The link is here.